Hunger strike w/ my 8 mo old Veiled, or...?

MSMorgan

Avid Member
All,

I've read all I can, on a daily basis, of the triumphs and heartbreak from some of you. I am extremely humbled by the knowledge base on our forum and feel fortunate that I am part of this community. Hopefully someone can help out.


Chameleon Info:

•Your Chameleon [/B][/B]- 8 mo. old male, Veiled. In my care for 4 mo. now.

•Handling - 2-3 times per week (outside for some sun). As of late, when I open the cage to feed in the morning, or clean/ remove the feeders in the evening, he'll climb up my arm and perch on my head. Always seems to want out and will climb out if the door's open.

•Feeding - Currently alternating through medium crickets, medium dubias, super worms and have recently tried BSF/ larvae. When Lucky was eating regularly, He was eating five crickets, plus two or three dubias and two or three super worms per day. As of the beginning of the month he was eating like a horse on a daily basis. I am gut loading my feeders with carrots, dandelion greens, oranges, apple, and Fluker's high calcium cricket diet.

•Supplements - I am using Rep-Cal supplements. I am dusting all feeder items daily with calcium powder (No D3) . Twice a month, I dust with D3 and Herptivite w/ beta-carotene.

•Watering - I have a Mist-King watering system that is scheduled to mist three times a day for 5 min. each. I caught Lucky drinking (water) about a week ago.

•Fecal Description - As of late, fecal's have been smallish (not eating as much) and urates have been off white with pale yellow hugh (not drinking as much I suspect) Fecal tested w/ negative results. (possibly getting dehydrated or needs a "shower" tomorrow)

•History - All was going well, until I was away for three days at the beginning of this month. When I returned, I noticed that there were crickets and dubias left over in the feeder. Well, more than I expected there would be in three days. Since my return, he will no longer take feeders readily from my hand and his appetite has not been the same since we returned. The cage lighting and misting is all automated and no other animals were in the house while I was gone. All appeared to be working correctly (lights/water) upon my return. Ambient temp in the house was set at 75*

Cage Info:

•Cage Type - Jungle Hobbies XL black alum. screen cage. 24x24x48

Lighting - Basking: Exo-terra 75 w. in dome. UVB: ZooMed Repti-Sun 5.0 ; Lights are on a timer, for 12 hrs. (0630 - 1830) I will gradually cut back to ten hours as winter approaches.

•Temperature - I have three bio-climatic zones in the enclosure. Basking is at 85*, mid is @ 75-80* and lower is at 70*. The lowest overnight temp so far is 70*. I measure with heat gun and therm. @ basking spot.

•Humidity - Humidity ranges from approx 50% - 60% with three mistings @ 5 min. Intervals throughout the day @ 7, noon and 5. I measure humidity w/ a digital and analog hygrometer.

•Plants - Live: I have a fairly large Schefflera that fills 3/4 the cage. I trade out with a similar sized ficus benjamina monthly, so that plants can take a break from daily "beatings."

•Placement - The enclosure is located in a corner of the great room away from any air vents, or high traffic areas. The top of the cage is 6' from the floor, elevated by a 2x2 end table.

•Location - Northern CA.

Current Problem - I am experiencing some possibly odd behaviors from Lucky as of late. The new behaviors (past 2 weeks) I am seeing are loss of appetite (eating very little to nothing in the past week), increased movement throughout the enclosure( appears to be looking for a way out of the cage), not taking feeders/hand feeding from me and wanting out of the enclosure any time I am near. I'm wondering if this is normal for an 8 mo. old, or is there something that I'm missing? He possibly ate 2 small/ med. dubias today (may have crawled out of the cup and could not find), but left the supers which he usually scarfs up. Now, he won't touch the crickets, BSF or BSF larvae for all the tea in China. It seems like he is upset that we left him for three days. What can I do to ensure his success. I will take some pics tomorrow and try to weigh him, so that you all can comment. I appreciate you taking the time to read this long winded plea for assistance.
 
2.5 oz this am on the letter scale = 71 grams. A little underweight I think for 8 mo. Pictures to be uploaded in a few. He was pretty "puffed up" this am but maybe someone can tell me if he's looking o.k., or not. Horn worms have been ordered to try.
 
I am in the same boat with my Panther girl and it is getting to be a little worrisome....I am getting her to take a few silkworms a day but that's about it. Two weeks ago she loved crickets and roaches and supers....now she don't even look at them. I am not trying to feed her the staple foods for a few days in hopes that when I go back to them she will be interested again. Sorry this is not much help
 
The best advice is to stop saying staple feeders. Mix it up. Pick your favorite three foods. Mine would be Thai food, pizza, and burgers. Now imagine that's all you could eat forever!!!! Breakfast lunch and dinner. Boring right! Most people do that. Crickets, and a couple different worms. I know it's hard and expensive but variety variety variety. Anything that flys is a great place to start to break a hunger strike. Blue bottle flies are an inexpensive way to go. Also I recently tried the green banana roaches which are green and fly( both very enticing to chameleons). Also if you are having regular fecals done catching wild bugs Is a way to bring variety as long as you are collecting in a place free of pesticides. Start with the blue bottle flies at mantis place though. It's cheap and easy. My Cham can't resist them.
 
I think MamatoElvis (really?) is on the right track, but I have a question.

If all I could eat for the rest of my life was Thai food, pizza, and burgers, would I starve myself to death?

I think not. I might not enjoy my food much, but I'd probably still eat enough to keep myself going.

Is this not the case with chameleons?

My veiled sure doesn't seem very interested in crickets these days. I still give them to him, but I haven't seen him actually eat one for a while. I think he must, but when he sees me he holds out to see if I will give him another superworm (I probably will). I can't get him to eat a roach either as far as I can tell. He will go for a stick bug pretty quick. Still looking for more bugs...
 
Thanks for the replies, but still not certain why he isn't eating like he used to. Fecals are clean and he is getting a variety of food items to include: crickets, dubias, superworms, and BSF larva. Still don't know what went amiss while I was gone, but he seems like a changed cham. Hornworms are on their way. In the mean time, any thoughts from others on how I may increase his appetite? Am I worrying about nothing?
 

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Same with my female Veiled. Not eating (2 crickets in 4 days) and all over the cage non stop. All signs for mine is she has eggs. Is this common for Chams to stop eating and cruise the cage non stop males and females?
 
They start eating again after a few days. sometimes more. I used to have 2 week hunger strikes with my veileds. I was feeding too much. For adults, I fed them just enough to maintain their body weight - a few insects every other day. They were never fat, but always hungry. Growing chameleons, I feed every day. You might try lowering the amount he eats every day.
 
Hornworms have arrived, but most of them are huge (3-3 1/2") I will try the smallest in the cup in the am and report back. Hope he "takes the bait." Seems like a waste with most of the hornworms being too big for him to eat. I suppose when I order next time, I should call or put in a message to send the smallest they have. These suckers are huge! Guess I could give them to my friend with the chickens, but seems a little pricey, $16 for 12 hornworms, just to give them away. Gripe, gripe, gripe.
 

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I always order eggs, they are super easy to hatch and hardy. Don't need any extra care, not like silkworms (though I raise them too). Just order the smallest amount of eggs you can and almost all get old enough for you to feed off.

Also it may be because he's getting sexually mature? I've noticed when my boy his around 8-12 months he grew restless as his hormones hit him. He started to slow down with the constant climbing so much after the year mark and he became less... I don't want to say irritable because he was never exactly irritable... but he wasn't exactly himself those few months either, it was like he was grumpy because he was confused and wanted to find a girl XD

At least that my thoughts on his personality change.
 
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